1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle information providing apparatus that detects and displays, for example, a physical object present in the vicinity of a vehicle.
2. Background of the Invention
Conventionally, in order to notify the driver of a vehicle about an obstacle such as a pedestrian on the travel path, an apparatus is known in which an image from one or a plurality of infrared cameras mounted on the front of the vehicle is displayed at a position visible from the driver's seat to complement the front visual field of the driver. The image displayed to the driver is displayed on an image display apparatus such as a NAVIDisplay disposed in the dashboard of the vehicle, a HUD (Head Up Display) that displays information at a position on the front window that does not obscure the front visual field of the driver, a meter integrated display that is integrated with a meter that displays the travel state of the automobile numerically, or the like.
In addition, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication, Hei 11-328364 discloses an apparatus that records the environment in the vicinity of the vehicle and displays the result to the driver in this manner. In this apparatus, the temperature of the exposed skin of the head of the detected object is higher than the temperature of the other parts, and first the position of the head of the detected object is identified using the fact that it is comparatively easy to record as an image of an infrared camera. The zone corresponding to the body of the detected object is determined based on the information of the identified position of the head. Thereby, for example, caution can be prompted by displaying to the driver not only the head of the pedestrian, but also the entire body.
However, in the conventional apparatus described above, in the case that the detected object is recorded from the front, the amount of infrared radiation of the skin of the face is large in comparison to other parts, and thus the position of the head of the detected object is easy to detect. However, although detecting the zone of the entire body therefrom is easy, in such a case as the detected object being recorded from the back, the parts other than the face are extracted, and it is difficult to identify the position of the head.
In addition, the temperature of parts of the body of the detected object change depending on the conditions and the environment. Examples are parts whose temperature rises due to direct exposure to the sun and parts whose temperature is lowered due to being blown on by the wind. Consequently, due to the increase or decrease in temperature, it is not always the case that the position of the head can be identified from the recorded image. The zone that corresponds to the body identified from the part recognized as the position of the head may be different from the zone in which the detected object is actually present.
In consideration of the problems described above, it is an object of the present invention to provide a vehicle information providing apparatus that determines and displays the range of presence of a person from the characteristics of images recorded by an infrared camera.